


Graduation

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2019-09-30 07:03:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17219192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Blink and Mush help each other prepare after getting invited to David’s high school graduation ceremony.





	Graduation

Nothing was more unexpected than David inviting Blink and Mush to his high school graduation. Blink wasn’t the type of guy who handled surprises all that great. The first words that he managed to spit out were “Really? Us? We ain’t Jack or nothing.”

It took Mush to notice that David was speaking very quietly, and that his smile was a nervous one. “He was afraid of asking us,” Mush explained later on, when he and Blink were alone. “He was scared we’d say no.”

“Why’d he think that?” Blink hadn’t seriously considered refusing. He’d just asked if there would be anything to eat, and agreed right away at the prospect of free dinner. Stupid of him.

“I think the two of us is his best friends, other than Jack.”

Blink’s face settled into a perplexed frown as he thought over what Mush had just said. It didn’t make any sense. Whenever Blink imagined David at school, he always envisioned a uniform with shiny buttons, and a whole herd of other students at David’s beck and command. Blink knew that these students were better than himself and Mush. That was just common sense. Students were clean, and smart, and they knew stuff, but how was he going to tell Mush that? There wasn’t any nice way of putting it.

“Maybe he invited all the newsies,” Blink mused. “To make up a crowd. If we got anything, it’s numbers.”

“Nah. He don’t got a lot of tickets. Every kid gets eight. He invited his folks, Sarah, Les, you, me, Jack, and his ma’s cousin.” Mush counted out the people on his fingers as he spoke.

“Guess most of his real friends is graduating right along with him.”

“We ain’t imaginary, Kid.”

“Yeah, well, we ain’t the same as David and his family neither.”

Mush shrugged, like he just didn’t care. “You don’t gotta be the same as someone to like ‘em. All of us is from different places.”

Blink didn’t argue. He rarely did with Mush, but most of the time it wasn’t a matter of holding his tongue. More often than not, Mush could just convince him of things. Blink really wanted to believe that David did like them, and his graduation was going to be fun. he might have managed, if the graduation hadn’t been two weeks away, and if David hadn’t spent every moment of those two weeks blowing off Blink and the others so he could prepare for his “final exams”.

Blink and Mush sold on the morning of the big event, but not the afternoon. Blink bought a pair of ties for Mush and himself, a blue one and an orange one that cost five cents a piece. He clutched the the bag as if it was his respectability he was holding onto, and not a couple bits of flimsy cloth.

“There’s nothing to be worried about,” Mush whispered, as the two of them entered the lodging house, where they would get ready and meet Jack.

“I hate schoolboys,” Blink whispered back, forgetting for the moment that David was among their ranks. “They’re haughty bastards, every last one of 'em. Hey, you think if I punch their faces in, we’ll still get dinner?”

“I think at graduations they stand in a line and shake hands with their teachers. They ain’t gonna say nothing to us. We better not soak 'em, Kid. That’ll just make trouble for David.”

“And what do you know about graduations?”

“Just what Dave told me when I asked him,” Mush answered. “Also that he’s inviting us 'cause we’s his good pals, just like I said.”

“How’d you ask him? He ain’t exactly talking to the likes of us,” Blink grumbled.

“I found Sarah, and got her to pass along the message. She gave me a hug, and said how happy she was Davey’s got friends. Sarah’s real nice and ladylike, huh Kid? Like a princess or something, huh?”

“And where does that put us? I don’t wanna make you jittery or nothing, but we’re gonna stick out like a pair of sore thumbs.”

Mush just smiled. Blink was nearly finding his optimism annoying, but only nearly, because Mush was his best friend and he refused to find him annoying. “We’ll stick out together,” Mush promised. “And hey, we got plenty of time to shower and all, so at least we’ll be clean sore thumbs with nice ties to wear.”

———-

Maybe Mush wasn’t worried about looking different than the other boys at David’s ceremony, but he did wish he owned a little more in the way of clothes. He’d been hasty in calling himself clean – sure, his hair was washed, his feet were scrubbed, and there wasn’t a speck of dirt to be found beneath his fingernails, but that didn’t make up for having to throw on a shirt and vest that he hadn’t had time to wash in about two weeks. He rolled up the ink stained bits of his sleeves, and lifted his arms experimentally, to see how bad his underarms looked. He brushed his teeth, and put his hat on over his hair (which, he noticed, was getting too long again.). There wasn’t much else to do, other than tie up his tie. He chose the orange one, because he thought it’d look the most cheerful and lively over the top of his dark green vest. He ran his hand over the material. It was nice to have new things, and Blink was a genius for knowing just what to buy.

The shower next to Mush’s was still running. Blink wasn’t finished yet. Mush looped the tie around his neck, then decided to brush his teeth again extra carefully for good measure.

“Hey,” Blink came right up behind Mush just as soon as he was done showering. “You look good.”

“You too.”

Blink wasn’t wearing much. His shorts were damp from being thrown on right out of the shower, and his suspenders came up over a bare chest and back. He wasn’t wearing his eyepatch yet, which would have never happened if anyone other than him and Mush had been around. Even with the pink scar flesh and the puckered opening where his eye’d used to be, Mush still liked the looks of him.

Blink tied up his patch, examined his teeth in the mirror, and then took to doing all the things that Mush had already done.

“Dave’s gonna really like your blue tie,” Mush said. “Blue is his mama’s favorite color.”

“Yeah. Speaking of ties, come here, I gotta fix yours.” Blink leaned over Mush. At first he just straightened the tie, but that wasn’t enough for him. He stuck out his tongue in concentration, while his hands went to work. “There’s nothing to fixing a tie,” he explained. “You just gotta wrap it around and make a lot of knots, so it don’t fall off.”

“You’re doing real good, Kid. It’s got four knots at least.”

“Five, six…” soon the tie hung down off of Mush’s neck, in the most beautifully tangled clump he’d ever seen. The door swung open, and before he’d gotten two steps in the door, Jack had doubled over laughing.

“Thanks a lot.” Blink raised his fist at Jack, but there was no real threat in it. “I’d like to see you look elegant for once in your life.”

“You gonna wear your hat to the graduation?” Mush asked. “How 'bout your bandanna?”

“Nah.” Jack was still trying to catch his breath. “I ain’t gonna make things that easy on David. Hey Blink, what do ya say, how’s about you fix me up as soon as you’re done with Mush over there?”


End file.
